Built between 1836 and 1841 between Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff, with Brunel as chief engineer. Subsequently, numerous branch lines were constructed – reaching Maerdy at the head of the Rhondda Fach in 1856. Construction involved the building of a substantial viaduct at Pontypridd.

Sixth-century poet, the author of a number of poems contained in the fourteenth-century Book of Taliesin.

(‘Fire in Llŷn’). On 8 September 1936 Lewis, Saunders, D.J. Williams and Lewis Valentine – three members of Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru, started a fire at a government ‘bombing school’ at Penyberth on the Llŷn Peninsula. Following the failure of a Caernarfon jury to agree a verdict, the trial was reheard in London, where the three were convicted and sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment.

A magnate holding land directly from the king, as Llywelyn and the greater earls did.

Acts of 1661, 1673 and 1678 which prevented non-Anglicans from holding public office or being on municipal corporations. The Acts were repealed in 1828.

Later Lord Rhondda. Liberal MP, coalowner, ally of Lloyd George. Helped create Cymru Fydd – and destroy it.

(1914–1953). Swansea-born poet, dramatist and short-story writer of international standing.

(1913–1981), novelist and playwright , from Porth, Rhondda.

(1913–2000), Church in Wales minister and poet from Cardiff, who lived for most of his life in north Wales.

The tenth of a person’s income given to supporting a church – in this case, the established Church of England.

Payment of tithes in kind (animals, crops, etc.) was commuted to payment in money in 1836 by this Act.

Act of Parliament by which tithes were subsumed into rent.

Opposition by Nonconformist north Wales’ farmers to paying a portion of their income to the Anglican church, sometimes erupting into violence when goods were confiscated for non-payment.

These gates were erected on turnpike roads in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Trusts were set up to build improved roads and were financed by tolls charged on animals and goods at the toll-gates.

A dispute between miners and management at the Cambrian Combine over a reduction in wage-rates led to a lock-out and strike, resulting in conflict between strikers and police, and rioting in Tonypandy. One miner died, and Churchill, Winston (as Home Secretary) famously sent troops to restore order.

Political party. In the nineteenth century generally associated with the establishment, whether the church or state, and conservative policies, though on occasions had radical wings and sometimes implemented radical policies. Eventually became the Conservative Party. Opposed by the Liberal Party as a radical alternative.

Colliery opened near Hirwaun in 1864; continued until closure by the government in 1994. In 1995 the miners bought the colliery themselves and resumed production, which continued until final closure, due to depleted coal seams, on 25 January 2008.

Farmers who transferred sheep or cattle to different pastures with changes of climate. Effectively, moving cattle and sheep in the summer season.

Transformation of the substance of the bread and wine of the Eucharist into the body and blood of Christ; a doctrine denied by Protestant churches.

State of South Africa. See Boer War.

Trials of leading English democrats suspected of spreading the ideas of the French Revolution, 1794.

The treaty between the allies and Germany after the First World War.

In 1802 Richard Trevithick built a steam engine at Penydarren Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil. In 1804 this was mounted on a carriage with wheels and successfully pulled 5 wagons of iron along the tramroad from Penydarren to Abercynon.

Alliance made in 1405 between Owain Glyndŵr, Edmund Mortimer and the Earl of Northumberland, with the aim of dividing England and Wales between them, involving an extension of the borders of Wales.

See Company Shops.

In 1965 the Tryweryn valley in north Wales was flooded to create a reservoir to provide water for Liverpool. There was strong opposition as it was a Welsh-speaking area and the project involved the drowning of the village of Capel Celyn.

Infectious disease in man and animals. Most common form is pulmonary tuberculosis. Economic conditions have a notable effect on its rate of occurrence, with the working class being most susceptible to the disease. High death rate until effective drug therapy was developed in the 1940s and 1950s.

Organisation of lace or linen makers.

See Toll-Gates.